Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, West Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and other opposition leaders during the meeting of I.N.D.I.A in Mumbai.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Some I.N.D.I.A leaders have come up with "out of the box" ideas in the fight against BJP like fielding a joint “superstar” candidate like Priyanka Gandhi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi, sources said.
At the I.N.D.I.A meeting on Wednesday here, sources said that there was a discussion about coming up with out of the box ideas that could put the ruling BJP in a spot.
One of the suggestions, sources said, was about fielding a common I.N.D.I.A candidate against Modi, and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee suggested one such candidate could be Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
However, there was no decision on such issues with a senior leader saying it was not on agenda and it remained a suggestion with no others responding to it.
There was also a discussion in the meeting on the stand to be taken on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with a number of Opposition leaders suspecting foul play by the ruling BJP.
Kharge during the meeting said that they need to adopt a resolution on EVM issue and during discussions, leaders suggested that they should not go on a negative campaign against EVM by demanding a return to ballot paper.
In the meantime, sources said that Rahul Gandhi asked leaders whether any of them support EVM and when there was no positive response, he asked why could not they approach the Election Commission on the issue.
Sources said it was then decided to tweak the resolution where it said, “instead of the VVPAT (paper trail of vote cast) slip falling automatically in the machine, it should be handed over to the voter who shall then place it in a separate ballot box after having verified his or her choice.”
A senior leader who attended the meeting told DH that it appeared that the Congress was circumspect of the EVM, especially after the BJP winning 163 seats in Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.
Another concern raised by the leaders was about how the BJP would use the inauguration of a new Ram Temple in Ayodhya ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
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